TINIAN resident Philip Mendiola-Long proposes the creation of an Article XII land registry under the Department of Public Lands for fee simple transactions.
Article XII of the CNMI Constitution limits land ownership in the Commonwealth to persons of Northern Marianas descent or NMD.
In a recent social media post, Mendiola-Long said there are “two camps” regarding Article XII.
“One camp wishes to abolish [it] as being a hinderance to economic self-sufficiency and offers an end to the ‘nanny-state’ where the Government makes personal property decisions for its people,” he said.
“The second camp wishes to keep Article XII, as is, as a protection for our people against the disastrous effects of outside economic forces which have ravaged other indigenous people such as native Hawaiians, leaving many landless.”
Mendiola-Long said both camps are right. “But neither has offered a way to bridge the gap in the difference in opinions between the 2 camps.”
He proposes to amend Article XII to allow all properties, not designated “Article XII Land,” to be available, fee simple, to whoever wants to sell and whoever wants to buy.
He said “Article XII Land” would be a new classification of land in the CNMI.
Under his proposal, Mendiola-Long said the Department of Public Lands shall accept the registration of personal property to be classified as Article XII Land.
“This Article XII Land registration shall be FREE for the first 6 months after passage of the constitutional amendment and thereafter shall be $200 for each Article XII Land registered,” Mendiola-Long said.
“The minimum required lot size for Article XII Land registration shall be 500 square meters.
“Once an Article XII property is registered with DPL, that family (whose names are on the deed) may offer to sell other property that they own fee simple to anyone who wishes to purchase it,” he said.
In in order for the fee simple land transaction to be recorded with the CNMI court recorder’s office, the seller must proceed to DPL to receive an Article XII Land Registry Certification stating that the said property being sold fee simple is not registered as Article XII Land.
“All NMI descent families will be required to register at least one Article XII property (min 500sqmt) with their heirs being named in the deed [and] registered with the DPL,” Mendiola-Long said.
“In order for that family, named in the deed with the registered Article XII Land, to sell any other properties, that family must seek certification that the property being sold is not an Article XII registered property. This will prevent families or clans from selling their last piece of inherited or government deeded property. DPL will ensure that whoever is selling fee simple land has some interest in properties within the CNMI. Thus ensuring they never go landless.”
He said proponents of Article XII “must admit that the current language and protections in place do not prevent landless indigenous families.”
In fact, Mendiola-Long said, current language has created a “dangerous loophole which allows wealthy CNMI NMD people to acquire property from poorer NMI descent people, leaving some families in the CNMI already landless.”
He added, “There has been no protection for many families in the CNMI over the last 40+ years. Many clans are already landless and Article XII did not protect them.”
Under his proposal, in contrast, “if a family or person in that family tries to sell property without first registering at least 500 square meters (or being named on the deed of one already registered) of land as Article XII Land, [DPL] will not issue a certification and thus, the transaction would not be allowed to be recorded, resulting in no sale.”
He said “even if the sale was to another NMI descent person who wanted to buy the land, the family or person would not be able to sell it as it is either the last property in their name or they have no Article XII Land registered.”
“To illustrate further,” he said, “let’s say a grandfather registered 500 square meters as Article XII land and deeded it in his children’s and grandchildren’s name. His children, after their father’s passing, proceeded to sell all other properties owned by their dad fee simple to a Japanese company. Each land transaction to the Japan firm received a certification from DPL that there was 500 square meters in family land (meaning titled or deeded in their names) that has been registered as Article XII Land. Therefore, the transactions for the non-Article XII Land will be allowed.”
Twenty years later, one of the grandchildren inherits the 500 square meters of Article XII Land. He then proceeds to try to sell that property to another NMI descent person.
“When he tries to record the fee simple transaction, it will be denied because the property has been reserved as Article XII Land and it is the only property deeded to his name,” Mendiola-Long said.
“Therefore, he must keep that property in perpetuity within his family, ultimately deeding it to his offspring, or he can choose to register a new property as his Article XII Land, which would enable him to sell his grandfather’s land fee simple.”
Mendiola-Long said his proposal could be the “bridge” to bring the two camps together.
“It provides economic freedoms that camp 1 is looking for and the concrete protections of land rights that camp 2 is looking for as well,” he added.
Legislative initiative
In related news, Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider of Tinian last week introduced Senate Legislative Initiative 22-01 which will amend Article XII to allow Northern Marianas descent landowners to fully exercise their real property rights, and reduce the NMD percentage of ownership interest in an NMD corporation.
“The acquisition of permanent and long-term interests in real property within Commonwealth shall not be restricted to persons of Northern Marianas Descent,” the legislative initiative states.
It added that private landowners of NMD should be allowed the freedom and liberty to exercise their full property rights which include their right to keep, sell, lease or transfer their properties in the open market and to those who are not of Northern Marianas descent.
However, “this initiative does not prevent NMD landowners form choosing to create covenants to transfer their properties to future heirs nor does it prevent landowners from leasing rather than selling their land fee simple.”
A legislative initiative is a proposal to amend the Constitution.
According to the Constitution: “The legislature by the affirmative vote of three-fourths of the members of each house present and voting may propose amendments to this Constitution…. An act of the legislature under this section may not be vetoed by the governor.”
An amendment proposed by legislative initiative “shall become effective if approved by a majority of the votes cast.”
Previous attempts to repeal and/or amend Article XII have all failed.
With Emmanuel T. Erediano
